This article was written for the May edition of NQ Fish & Boat Magazine
Jack Sutherland has been my good neighbour, along with his lovely wife Jean, for almost 24 years.
He's the type of bloke who can do anything, has all the tools to do it and always offers to give a helping hand.
Over the years we have become good friends and even now in his late 80s he can keep up with the best of them,
until recently.
Jack has been battling cancer for a couple of years and his health has deteriorated quite rapidly.
He gets so frustrated that he can't do the things he's always been more than capable of doing and our recent chats
have centered around his early days in Victoria as a charter boat operator when he used to charge five
shillings per head and if his punters didn't catch a fish he would refund them in full.
I guess reminiscing becomes a pre-occupation as you grow older...to look back on the things you have achieved.
I was shocked to hear that Jack's doctor told him his time was nearly up, with only a few weeks live.
While Jack remains philosophical his family and friends have gathered around to spend precious time with him.
I asked what he would like to do while he was still able. His answer was immediate: "Keith, I would love
to go fishing on the reef one last time and maybe catch a big red."
Within a week I had organised a trip out of Port Douglas on the "Norseman", a new 70-foot charter vessel
built by Cairns Custom Craft and skippered by Steve Turvey. When we told Jack he was over the moon,
as was his son Robert. The weather was perfect with eight to 10 knots North-East winds forecast.
A few of Jack's friends were invited along - his neighbour Richard Zaeh, my son Matthew and tackle
guru Chris Kirley.
"Norseman" is an impressive boat with two decks, an air-conditioned front cabin and boasting the latest in
computer and video technology.Captain Steve and his crew made us all welcome and made such a fuss over Jack.
Steve also promised Jack that the days events were to be captured on video and photographed and that Jack
would receive a copy on our return. The wonders of modern technology.
We set Jack up with a Daiwa Saltiga spin outfit loaded with 30 pound braid. The fast taper rod would allow him
to easily detect a bite and play the fish without too much strain.
While steaming out to our first drop Steve showed us the bridge, again with all the latest GPS and sounder gear.
One thing that really caught my eye was the 3D sounder that showed every spike and bommie laid out in front of us -
almost cheating really. He sat Jack in the skipper's seat and let him have a drive to which he commented:
"This is the biggest boat I've ever driven, but I think I need to have a degree in something to read all
these instruments."
Our first drop was in 20 metres of water over an old trawler wreck. The action was a bit slow but we managed a
few undersize reds before moving out wider to deeper grounds. Jack caught a 1.5kg trevally and lost a red
near the boat - a good start to the day. The next few drops in 40m country resulted in some good reds taken
on bait and jigs. Fish up to 2.5kg came on board before Richard latched on to something better.
His handline was ripped out of his hands a few times before he got the better of a 6kg Chinaman.
I hear him mutter something about "bloody gallopers" before tossing it back.
The one good thing about a Chinaman is its spectacular colours and marks, the photos we took of this fish fresh
out of the water take some beating.
Jack latched onto a good red only to have it grow on him - into a 15kg bronze whaler shark.
He handed the rod to me as he couldn't handle this bruiser but later that day was appeased when he landed a 4kg
black tip reef shark. Robert was in the thick of things with something in the size bracket we were looking for,
then, half way up it got chewed also, but he wasn't about to let go.
He fought a huge shark for almost 20 minutes on his 50 pound braid outfit and eventually won back the head of
what could have been a 10kg emperor. I'll tell you, he was really pissed off.
The good news was that while Robert played junior jaws we all pulled up a few decent large mouth.
When the man in a grey suit was otherwise occupied the reds bit their heads off.
The best fish of the day that came up in one piece was a 10kg Red Emperor taken by Richard.
Jack's face lit up when he laid eyes on such a top catch and he said it was a great to see an emperor that size even
though he didn't catch it. I'm sure that made his day.
Steve asked if we wanted to chase a few coral trout before stumps to which we all agreed.
He put us onto some 20m bommies loaded with baitfish and on my first drop I foul-hooked a fusilier.
Steve put this out on a spin outfit lookingfor a mackerel and within minutes the reel sreamed off as he set
the hooks into a good sized Spaniard. The fight went well until the fish took its last run near the boat
and pulled the hooks. Well, you can't win them all. This last spot yielded a couple of 3kg Spangled Emperor
and one good trout, which I was relieved to get as it was an "order" from her indoors.
You couldn't wipe the smile off Jack's face. He'd had a great day out with a top crew and good friends and up
until writing this article was still talking about it.
Back in port Steve handed Jack his video and photo DVD as he had promised.
Jack's daughter Gail was visiting from Victoria and along with other family members, watched what a great time
her father had out on the reef. I felt priviledged to spend this last day out on the reef fishing with my good
friend Jack and as I sit back and watch the video I'm happy we could grant Jack his wish.
Our sincere thanks to Steve Turvey and his crew for making this day so memorable.
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